import reference problem

mjshen

I have two BOs Customer and Status, and the Status is referred by Custome. I defined a rule to verify if the data being import is correct. The rule is:

If ThisCustomer.Status.Status IS UNDEFINED Then REPORT ERROR 'No such status'

The rule works very well to check if there is a spelling error for the Status.Status. The problem is when data in Customer.Status.Status field in CVS file is blank, it reports the error and ignore the row too. Actually, the blank is valid in our case. My question is: how can I distingush the error caused by a blank value or spelling error so as to allow blank value be imported?

Thanks,
Mojun

aware_support

Why do you check for spelling error with the rule that checks for blank?

mjshen

I'd like to ensure all the data being import match the data in Status BO. In my real case, the data is very complex, not esay memorized chemical name. The data in Status BO are verified and from an external database.

I ever defined Customer.Status as plain text attribute with choice determined by a custom query that can solve this problem. However, I encountered problem described in https://forum.awareim.com/viewtopic.php?p=16280#16280. Our users don't want to key in the text for query, they'd like select the data(Status in example) from a drop dwon list.

Any good suggestion for solving my problem?

Thanks,
Mojun

aware_support

I still don't understand. So who checks whether the spelling is correct and where is it done?

mjshen

OK. let me explain more detail. We have a BO called Chamicals which has an attribute Name(Plain text). All instances of Chemical.Name are the verified by experts. Another BO called Customer which has an attribute MyChemical to refer to Chemicals BO. When import data for Customer, one of fields in cvs file is Customer.MyChemical.Name. I'd like to ensure all the data under Customer.MyChemical.Name must match one of the instance of Chemicals(build relation). and eliminate the data which do not in Chemicals. But a blank value of Customer.MyChemical.Name is valid. So I defined a rule:

If NOT(EXISTS Chemicals WHERE (Chemicals.Name=ThisCustomer.MyChemicals.Name)) AND ThisCustomer.MyChemicals.Name IS DEFINED Then
REPORT ERROR 'No such Chemical Name.'

I found above rule couldn't work as I expected because the two conditions never get True at the same time. It allows both blank value and unmatched data to be imported (changes unmatched data to blank).

So I tried to use

If NOT(EXISTS Chemicals WHERE (Chemicals.Name=ThisCustomer.MyChemicals.Name)) Then
REPORT ERROR 'No such Chemical Name.'

This time, both blank value and unmatched data were found and reported. So does the rule:

If ThisCustomer.MyChemicals.Name IS UNDEFINED Then REPORT ERROR 'No such Chemical name'

The root cause is AwareIM treats both blank value and unmatched data as "IS UNDEFINED".

So any other rule defining way can help me?

aware_support

OK, I'm starting to understand now.

Is MyChemicals reference in the Customer object single or multiple? The plural used in the name of the attribute suggests "multiple allowed". If this is the case the rules are wrong.

ab042

Mojun:

Just a suggestion but a possible quick fix would be to use the function: LENGTH(attribute)

If you check for a zero length the attribute is blank

mjshen

Hi Support,

MyChemicals reference in the Customer object is Single.

Thanks,
Mojun

mjshen

Hi ab042,

Thanks for the suggestion. Actually I have tried using LENGTH(attribute) already. Bucaused both blank value and unmatched data are considered
as 'IS UNDEFINED', so both get zero length.

Thanks,
Mojun